Appearance.The Sephet is a
demon kind that generally grows from 5 up to 12 peds in
length. The body is described as that of a large snake with the upper body of
what can be interpreted as a
man-like creature. The strong muscled tail
makes these creatures stand up to 3 peds in height. The skin are scales colored
in a metallic mixture of greens and blues which makes the beasts
extremely sturdy against all kinds of physical attacks.

Image description.A fully grown Sephet-demon, also known as the Matar-Sephet,
waiting for an unsuspecting victim. Picture drawn by Seeker.

The back of the Sephet Demon has the skin fold like a
cobra with a complicated pattern on it and has an array
of glands on the inner and outer side that cover its skin
with a poisonous fluid.The head of the Sephets are bald,
with snakelike, multicolored eyes and a bony skull structure. The mouth hardly
contains two dangerous teeth that make up most of their upper jaw.There are several variations of the Sephet demon
known which are all different age levels of the same demon
kind:

The
Sephet
The smallest version of this demon.
Standing it is as high as a man. They seemed mindcontrolled by their mother till
they transform into its higher form and care for the nest and the protection of
their mother.

The
Le-SephetThe Le-Sephet is the mobile variant of the Matar-Sephet.
Already grown up in mind and power, these
demonsare smaller than the
Matar-Sephet and still lack the final pair of arms and the tail might not
have split, yet, however the rattles and tentacles are already fully developed.
With adulthood the Sephet turns into this version, the back of the head breaks
open and tentacles grow from the back of the head, a second pair of arms grows
from under the first one and out of the large skin fold and rattles grow out of
the tail. The transformation must be painful but obviously the Sephet are able
to mutate that way and the old body becomes a second hull that once breaks open.

The Le-Sephet seek out a new place to found their own nest, only seldomly they
can stay with their mother and form an even bigger nest.

The
Matar-Sephet
The fully grown Sephet-demon, also known as the Matar-Sephet,
is the biggest of its kind. The bald head is covered by dozens of moving
tentacles and the twin tail has the ends of a rattlesnake. Also the number of
arms has increased from two to six.The Matar-Sephet is
the largest and oldest of its kind and the most dangerous, physical and in its
magical powers, however with growing age it
turns rather immobile and slow in movement.This kind is
the one known to lay eggs in a nest and give birth to dozens of lesser Sephets.

Special Abilities.The grown up Matar-Sephet
has great mental powers and can cast terrible magic
that can make opponentsperish
easily right away. Even without the magicthe lesser Sephet make formidable enemies protected by their sturdy skin
and a terrible contact poison that can weaken any foe that gets into contact
with their wet skin.

The many glands on their back are mainly for this purpose. Their claws become
deadly through this poison and there are also stories about Sephets bearing
rudimentary twin-pikes or other weapons. The picture of the six-armed
Matar-Sephet, every arm bearing a scimitar has become a famous legend.

The most dangerous weapon of a Sephet however is the
poison of their teeth. The long teeth that replace most of the jawbone contain
vast amounts of an even deadlier poison than the skin has for self-defense. With
the tips of their teeth that stick out of the flesh and are responsible for the
hissing sounds of their language they can spit their poison over a distance of
up to 9, sometimes even 15, peds.
Often aimed at the eyes of their foes the poison can have a paralyzing sometimes
instantaneously lethal effect on their victims.

Territory.Coming from the Netherworlds the
Sephet are nevertheless coldblooded and enjoy the warmth of warm wells, caves
and volcanoes. They donít seem to suffer much from heat and moisture however in
extreme measure it can be rather harmful to them. Therefore
elemental mages may have the best advantages when fighting these creatures.

A Matar-Sephet coming to Caelereth first
will look for a good place to create its nest and then
starts breeding. The surroundings are later defended and hunted by her daughters
and can infest vast tunnel system with these deadly creatures.

Habitat/Behaviour.The first thing a Le-Sephet or Matar-Sephet would do in
Caelerethis to build
up a nest in a protected location and start to breed. After the first generation
of daughters (all Sephet seem to be female) arrive theyíre sent out to hunt for
more food, care for the eggs and protect the nest. Breeding is considerable
fast, it is guessed that a Sephet colony can grow up to
several dozens individuals within two years,
which is not much for a demon. Only few of them
grow into Le-Sephet to leave the nest.

After a certain sector around the nest is secured and an
abundant source of food is found, the Sephets can stay in
this place for centuries. If the food source depletes the Matar-Sephet starts
killing its children to compensate so a certain balance can exist and the
Sephets might stay in the place till someone destroys the nest and kills the
Matar-Sephet.

Summoning a lesser Sephet is a less dangerous act for a mage as these creature
still seem of only minor intelligence and are easily controlled.The Le-Sephet and Matar-Sephet are far more intelligent
and capable of dangerous spells and mental powers on their own so dealing with
them often is about forming a pact or treaty otherwise the mage can easily end
as the first meal of the summoned
demon.

However, the Sephets are easily satisfied when a
sufficient source of food is offered which is the main reason why so much
research about this particular demon kind was possible.
As long as the food lasts the Sephets donít care much about anything else around
them.Diet.The Sephet supply from meat, fresh raw meat. If feeding
and reproducing is the reason why they come to
Caelerethin the first
place is unknown, but a predominating occupation of a
nest of Sephets becomes to hunt enough food for the breed. What kind of meat is
in this respect highly irrelevant.

As these Sephet creatures donít seem to be able to chew,
they rip their victims into acceptable pieces and swallow them in a whole by
dislocating their thin lower jaw. Terrifying is the fact that the Sephet like
their meat to be fresh and sometimes keep their meals imprisoned for days
- an unbelievable torture for the few that survive this imprisonment.

Mating.The legend tells that the Sephets mate in the
swamps of the Netherworlds but how,
when and why is unknown. It is only guessed that Matar-Sephets are capable of
returning to these places and there breed their only generations of male Sephets
to continue their kind. But all this is only speculation. None observing these
creatures from the Netherworldscould ever prove it.

Myth/Lore.The Sephets hail like all demonsfrom the Netherworlds,
however, their first appearance is reported back
in the War of
the Chosenwhen they were part of the terrible armies
of dark mages. The power of the Sephets is terrible and devastating and despite
all attempts even a fed Matar-Sephet remains a chaotic creature so
in the course of time these demonswere banned to the Netherworldsagain till the last nest was destroyed. Not necessarily the last
- whether the sporadic appearance of new nests of
Sephets in dark caverns or volcanoes are from one of the
last remaining nests deep within the earth or by Sephets
that escaped the Netherworldsis unknown...

Researchers.
There are three researchers of the Sephets worth mentioning:

Gambarish the Pale
He was one of the first mages after the
War of the
Chosen who tried to discover more about this mythical
demon kind. Well, he should have started with something less than a
Matar-Sephet and it took months to get the demon out of
his home.

Malik the SorcererHe secretly hosted a whole nest of Sephets in the
southern Tandalas. Many journals tell in shocking detail
about the habits and features of these demons,
however, as was also reported with
Gambarish the Pale, Malikperished
when he was not able to supply food to the growing Sephet
community which sooner or later found a way out of its prisonÖ

Ralik the Bald
He was the only one who dealt with these demonsonly to find out how to kill them. He also tried
to find a relationship to the mythical
Psyrpents, the snakemen, but
couldnít find any proves. His researches ended when the bite of a Sephet nearly
killed him - despite all possible defense spells and
powerful antivenoms- and he remained
paralyzed at parts of his body for the rest of his life.